Mustang resident upset about mailboxes being left open

MUSTANG, Okla. - A Mustang man said he's fed up after finding his mail and his neighbors' mail exposed due to mailboxes being left wide open.

"I can understand, once in a great while, somebody forgets - but this is happening too much," said Brad Branch, Sr.

Branch has lived at the Fieldstone Garden Apartments in Mustang for about eight years. Tenants' mailboxes are built into a wall near the leasing office's building.

"There’s a bunch of little doors. They make up in a frame, a very large door. This main door is open by the U.S. Postal Service people, so they can fill the individual boxes, and it’s supposed to be closed back and locked," he said. "I’ve found this door open last night. Not just one, there’s five boxes and I find two or three or four of them all unlocked at one time. That’s several hundred people’s mail."

Branch claims he's seen the doors open more than a dozen times over the past eight years. While he's personally never had anything stolen, he's worried another incident could give thieves an opportunity.

"You’ve got people that receive social security checks and people that receive paychecks, you have people that receive rebate checks. You got people that receive money from other sources," he said. "You have people that receive medications. People receive blooding testing supplies. You do so much of that by the mail nowadays."

Branch said he has called and emailed the United States Postal Service about his concerns over the years but has yet to hear back.

The U.S. Postal Service emailed News 4 this statement on Friday:

“The U.S. Postal Service considers the security and sanctity of mail as one of its highest priorities and strives to deliver mail safely and timely. Management is aware of the issue reported by our customer and is committed to resolving the matter. Immediate steps were taken to ensure the mailboxes were locked and follow-up was conducted to ensure there is no recurrence. We apologize for any inconvenience that may have been experienced by our customers.”

The apartment manager for Fieldstone Garden Apartments said they were not aware of any issues with mailbox security until Friday; however, they would be contacting the local Post Master.

"I, as manager, do not have any control of locking or unlocking the boxes," manager Kathi Mersman told us.

Branch said he hopes the issue does not reoccur.

"What I would like to see is just someone do their job and do it correctly," he said.